It has happened again

It's been more than a month since my last post. My garden is doing well. I've got plenty of tomatoes, hot peppers and carrots. My broccoli is finally starting to produce. It's rained some in the past week and them temperatures have finally dropped into the 70s and 80s an my garden is thriving because of it.

It is so amazing to see the change in the garden the few hours after a natural rain, opposed to a watering from the sprinkler.

I've been getting fresh foods from the market and out of my parents garden and canning, freezing and dehydrating to my heart's content. I have some tomato sauce, dried tomatoes, frozen and dried potatoes, frozen corn.

I can't say that I dread winter as much as usual knowing I won't have to buy commercially packaged foods.

Outside of the garden in the last month, I've traveled to Michigan for vacation, been working a lot and creating a ton of content there, which is why I haven't felt inspired to write here, and have been preparing for an after school program I will be teaching. It has been a great summer. It is just going by so fast.

Oh, and I've been quilting and putting together other projects, like this one. It's a tea bag wallet. I exchanged it via swap-bot and use the one I received to hold tea bags in my desk at work. I love it, because if I thought it in my bag, my tea bags don't get all ratty or rip open.

I've almost finished my "Seeing Squares" quilt. I've been working on that project in my spare time for months. I also put together this bag for bag. It's for filling with grocery sacks so that they can be reused. Nifty huh?

Too big a time gap

It's been too long since my last blog post and mainly it's because after sitting at a computer all day at work, the last thing I want to do on my summer nights is stare at the computer for another few minutes.

I have been working in the garden a little. I've at least taken the time to water and inspect it for bugs every day or every other day. I need to spend about an hour weeding it. The weeds grow so fast.

I have large green tomatoes. They should turn soon. I have two zucchinis that are about four inches long. I have baby peppers on one pepper plant and a ton of flowers on my sprawling cucumber plants. It won't be too long before I can harvest a good harvest.

In other worlds, I've joined a few swap-bot swaps. I've wrapped them all up for a while. I need to take the last one to the post office today. I've been promising pictures of the garden and swaps, but for now, I'll share my healthy recipe from the Swap-bot Healthy Recipe Swap.

Eat Your Greens Guacamole

Ingredients

3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed

1 lime, juiced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup diced onion

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions

In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Stir in cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately.

Beer Can Chicken

Sometimes I like to roast a whole chicken. There is something about cooking the whole bird that makes me feel closer to the farm. Please don't get me wrong, I do not really have a desire to be on a farm and cleaning my own meals, but I like to remember where my food comes from. Those boneless skinless pieces often often make me forget all about the farm.

So Thursday night I decided beer can chicken on the grill would be the way to go. We typically use the Weber's Real Grilling book as a jumping off point. It's taught us a lot about proper grilling temperatures, times, and techniques. For example, did you know that you should only turn most foods once during cooking and you should never press on the meat while it's cooking? Also, I have learned that resting the cooked meat is just as important as cooking it, plus it gives you time to finish up the veggies or bread.

Anyway, beer can chicken involves slow roasting a chicken on the grill over a beer can. It results in a moist and flavorful piece of meat. I was fortunate enough to pick up a contraption that holds the beer can and stabilizes the chicken on clearance at some discount store, but it isn't necessary. You can rely on ample balancing skills.

Beer Can Chicken,
Adapted from Weber's Real Grilling

Rub:
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
olive oil
1 12-oz can of beer (it must be a can, NO BOTTLES)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1. Open the can of beer, drink half the can. Let the other half sit on the counter until it's room temperature (I love any recipe that includes serving myself a drink).
2. Prepare the rub using the rub ingredients listed above
3. Wash, dry, and do any needed clean up to the chicken. Rub down with olive oil, then rub down with the rub.
4. Using a can opener, poke two additional holes into the top of the beer can. Add additional ingredients to beer can.
5. Set the chicken, legs side down over the can of beer so that the can is inside the chicken. Balance the chicken and beer can like a tripod on the grill (the two legs and one beer can make a three way stabilizer).
6. Grill on indirect medium until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 170 to 180 degrees (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours). Carefully remove from grill. The contents of the beer can will be extremely hot.
7. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.

And that is beer can chicken! Delicious.

Fresh Veggies, Well Baby Veggies

I posted a few days ago that I finally had some produce in the garden. While it's going to be a while before it's ready to eat, I'm excited to see some growth. The proof is in the pictures.

On the right is a teeny tiny pepper. I'm not sure of the variety. It's probably some kind of hot pepper, but not a jalapeno. I started this plant in my areo garden because I had a few seeds left over and a seed pod that never grew anything taking up space. I wasn't sure the plant was going to make the move from the hydroponic system to the real dirt in the group, but it did and it's my first to produce.

On the left is my single tomato. Still green, but growing. This tomato looks strong. I hope more show up on my plants.

My parents have been harvesting cucumbers. I also had a fresh radish from their garden yesterday. It was so hot or sour or tart. I'm not sure the taste description you give a radish, but it was delicious.

So far, other than a few little cabbage worms on my broccoli, we've been keeping the pests away. Yesterday I learned of a new threat to the garden: neighborhood kids. They aren't pests, but they are curious, and they are not afraid to ask if they can have my fresh food. As long as they keep asking that's fine, but I don't want anyone stealing from my garden.

Rhubarb Strawberry Cobbler

I read this post by The Pioneer Woman and decided I had to try this Rhubarb cobbler. I picked up rhubarb at the City Market from a farmer who could measure a pound better than the scale and took it home to chop and bake.

At my husbands request (and because I bought some VERY ripe strawberries) I modified the recipe to be a rhubarb, strawberry cobbler. It turned out really good. It had a little crunch from the rhubarb. I reduced the sugar because of the strawberries and that kept the sweetness at the right level.

Also, it was pink and who doesn't love to eat pink food. In this picture you can see the beautiful pinkness secured into place by the delightful cobbler.

Of course to serve this treat in style, I had to make some homemade whipped cream. Now I'm not saying that my whipped cream is the best out there, but I've gotten the routine down to culinary science. The secret... put everything in the freezer for about 15 minutes before you start, and use a metal bowl. The metal bowl gets cold fast and stays cold. For some reason the cold really helps the cream to peak and thicken.

Dinner is off to a late start, which isn't surprising when there is so much to do around the house and the weather is so nice to get it done, so to ward off starvation we opted for dessert first!

Flooding, so indoor crafts

It's been a rainy day in the mid-west. Three to four inches in Indianapolis this morning. I drove through the yard to avoid the rising water in the street to get to work this morning. I got drenched from head to toe and kept my shoes off most of the day because they couldn't dry out.

I got home tonight, and my garden looks like it survived. One potato plant and one Brussels sprout plant were a littl tipsy-turvy, but I think that was from the wet ground. They look like they will be okay as long as it deoesn't rain too much more tonight.

So I decided to use my evening to work on a great project for an upcoming Swap-bot swap. I'm going to wait to post pictures until I drop it in the mail. I've got to pick up some yummy teas before I can do that, but you can learn to make your own Tea Wallet here from "Is it Naptime Yet?"

I've got weeds

I need to find some time to get out in the garden and pull weeds. They are there and they aren't going away without a few hours of attention. I pulled out a few while I was checking things out last night. I also made a big salad from our fresh lettuce. It was delicious.

Around the house, the cats are starting to get a little case of cabin fever. They are indoor cats. They have been indoor cats since they were about three months old, but Dicey especially has been crying as he starts out the window. We've started letting them out while we're prepping dinner. He never goes more than a few feet from us. Racer, our more timid cat, will hardly do more than stick his head out the door. I'm hesitant to let them out until I get them to the vet for additional shots and flea medicine. Maybe we can do that later in the summer.

Delicious, Fresh, Dinner

We had a great dinner the other night. Grass fed New York Strip from the local butcher's shop, Corn and avocado salsa with fresh indoor basil, and a fresh green salad with lettuce straight from my own garden.

It was so exciting to finally get to eat a little of the food we've been working to grow. The lettuce is still in a bit of the baby stage, but it needed thinned out so there was room for the rest to get larger and once the heat sets it, it will dry up and be gone.

As for the salsa. It was delicious and unique. The corn came from our grocery delivery. It wasn't local because it's too early for that, but it is organic. The avocado and lime came from the produce stand at city market. If I can't get those things locally, I figure I can support a local vendor.

The recipe:

Two ears of corn, roasted on the grill
One avocado, peeled, pitted, and chopped a little
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves, chopped
Salt
Pepper

Scrape the kernels off the ears of corn into a bowl, then milk the corn cob using the back of a knife to collect the milky juices (they act as thickener).

Combine the milky juices and half the kernels and process in a food processor until pretty smooth.

Mix processed mixture back in with whole kernels. Add avocado lime juice, basil, salt and pepper. Mix well and serve.

*Adapted from Weber Grill Grill Book

Red Basil

I picked up a stalk of red basil at the farmer's market last Wednesday. I don't think it's going to make it.

I planted it in the herb pot with my other basil, but the leaves fell off pretty quickly and the trunk is pretty frail looking. I'm not giving up hope because I know how strong basil can be. My indoor basil has been growing like crazy since I turned off the aerogarden light for summer. It's not getting as much light as I thought it would need, but apparently it likes that. Soon I'll have enough for some pesto. Pesto with walnuts most likely instead of pinenuts.

I'm debating buying another red basil, or maybe purple basil, tomorrow at the farmer's market, but I don't know if it's such a good idea.

Today, I'll have to swing by the produce stand at city market for an avacado. I'm not sure what the menu is for dinner tonight, but I saw this recipe for corn and avocado salsa. It looked amazing.

Surviving the storm

Saturday night we had terrible storms in Indianapolis. Actually, I can't say that. I wasn't here. I was driving south at the time and watching them with my white knuckles gripping the steering wheel.

There was more lightening in the sky than I had ever seen and by the time I got home the power had been kicked off and back on. I was worried about the garden on Saturday night, but it seemed to survive and maybe even thrive from the rain.

I've got another strawberry on my plant. I ate the red one on Friday. I hope a few more start growing because one at a time isn't quite enough.

I thinned my carrots yesterday. I hate to pull out too many because there really aren't a lot of them to begin with, but I know that if I leave them too close together they will not grow. I did that last year.

All Things Red

I planted strawberries in a pot. See that little bit of pink? It's a strawberry. And it's almost ripe enough to eat now. It's the only one so far that looks like a strawberry and not a green nodule.

I have to share it with Alex. One strawberry cut into two tiny pieces or more likely one strawberry and his will have a bite out of it as I remove it from the plant. I'm surprised at how well they're growing. Hopefully I'll have a successful strawberry summer.

Other red things in my garden are doing well. I planted tomatoes. Some tiny plants, which you can't see in this picture, I started myself indoors. These big tomato plants are from a local hardware/garden store. They have flowers on them now, which means tomatoes will follow soon. I got a variety of types because I'm not sure what I like. I remember my grandma growing big boys, but I'm sure she grew other varieties, too. I picked out the Indy tomato and have one plant of that variety for local sake. We'll see.

I've already started planning for next year. We're going to build/install a light table in the garage so I can start more plants from seed. I saved my plastic starter pots this year so I have a good stockpile of those.

I need to research prepping the ground after the garden, but I've got a few months before that and I'm ready to enjoy the summer!

My Opinion on Foods

I like food. I like to eat food, mainly real food. I like the occasional treat. I do eat prepared food at restaurants. I do not eat frozen or even typically packaged food from the grocery.

I do not like the government to tell me what to eat. I do not like the new food plate. I did not like the 2005 food pyramid, and I do not like that the general consensus is that people are too stupid to understand the pyramid that was released in the 1990s.

I like meat and other animal products. I especially like meat when I know the farmers that raised the animals or at least when I know the butcher that knows the farmers that raised the animals.

I do not like it when people call margarine butter. Drives me crazy.

I put cream in a my coffee (not nondairy substitute). I eat full fat varieties of most foods that come with an option (the exception being milk, because like beer, full flavor is just too filling). I do not think that a low fat life style is healthier.

I like the idea of the slow foods movement. I don't like the name because who has time for slow foods. My meals are all prepared in 30 minutes or less, unless the baking time is longer than 30 minutes in which time I am able to get other things done. I like meal plans. I don't always make them. I like breakfast. I don't ever skip it. Lunch I can give or take, but dinner is a must.

I eat dessert. Today it's fresh berries. They aren't good yet because they are out of season. Sometimes it's cookies or chocolate.

I grow herbs. I think they have healing properties. I think the food we eat affects our bodies. I think too many people do not make that connection. I think we can train our thumbs to be green and we will benefit from getting our hands dirty working on it. I'm at least going to try.

Garden for two

This is my garden. It's on the side of my house. It looks dry in the picture, but I'd already watered it. The high today is 93. I should probably water it before I leave for work this morning.

Tomatoes and potatoes are in the back rows. Peppers, broccoli, cucumbers and egg plants are in the next rows. Lettuce, spinach, squash, and brussel sprouts are in the front row.

It's a nice size garden for two people.
Right now, my favorites thing in the garden is the lettuce. I like it because it grows fast, started from seed and tastes yummy. Obviously it's not big enough for salad yet, but I've been able to pick a little leaf here and there to taste.

Everything else that I started from seed moves much slower. The large plants from nurseries are much further along but the "I did that" feeling just isn't there. I mean I guess I could say, "I replanted that," but it's not the same.

I don't want to rush my garden. Good things come with time.

A Summery Memorial Day

It's a beautiful day in Indianapolis. Birds are chirping, bees are buzzing, people are outside mowing their lawns. I've been in my garden on and off all day. My plants are looking better since the weather shaped up and the sun has finally come out again.

I planted some additional plants. My cucumbers never sprouted (from seeds). I replaced them with four starter plants. I also added in a couple of varieties of egg plants and one artichoke. I don't think artichoke grow in Indiana, but they are one of my favorites so I figure it won't hurt to try.

I also planted some herbs in pots in the back yard near the grill so we can not only eat fresh, but season fresh as well.

I picked out some sweet basil, which I also grow year round inside, some spicy round basil, which I've never tried, cap nip for the cats, oregano, parsley and rosemary.

I'm making an effort to take pictures and record my trials and successes so that next year it will be much easier. We'll see.

Happy Memorial Day, and happy summer!

Rain, rain, go away

I'll be honest. I haven't been out to check on my garden in a few days. It's been raining almost all day everyday, especially in the evenings when I'm home. That's not to say no one's peeked at it. Alex goes out every couple of evenings to make sure it's sufficiently watered.

I hope my plants are getting enough sunlight to grow and not so much water they are drowning.

I bet my strawberries are getting big.

One side of me is trying not to look every single day, at least not in the beginning because it's sad to see so little progress. On the same note, I want to look every day to make sure we don't have any over zealous birds or squirrels taking over. We're lucky, I've never seen a rabbit in our neighborhood. I honestly thought maybe they just didn't live in the city, but I saw one at a friend's house on Tuesday. Who new.

A funny story: Once upon a time, I lived in Lubbcok Texas, home of Texas Tech University. The west Texas city, is DRY. In fact, dust storms were a regular occurrence and tumbleweed would blow through my apartment complex (which was on 4th street about one block from the busiest road in town and one block from the sprawling campus). In other words I didn't live in the middle of no where. So one Saturday morning, I decided to take a little run. I headed toward campus and ran by this museum that sat on a few acres of land. You might call it a park I guess. Anyway, at this point in my Texas life other than a few skinny squirrels and an occasional road kills armadillo I hadn't seem much wildlife, but on this particular day, while I was running I was shocked and startled when a pair of GIANT ears lunged toward me. After the initial shock of what I thought I had seen, I realized that it was a rabbit. A tiny sweet bunny with huge ears. It was a jack rabbit. Looking around, there were probably hundreds in this park. They were the most bizarre looking creatures.

On the left, a Texas jackrabbit, on the right, an Indiana bunny rabbit. You can see my concern.
When those GIANT ears popped up at me.

Shaking up the morning routine

Do you have a morning routine? It something that you have been doing for years? Mine is so predictable that even on the weekends when I sleep late it it's virtually the same.

I wake up, stumble into the bathroom and put in my contacts so that I can see more than 20 feet in front of me. Depending on the day, I shower or wash my face and head to the kitchen. I fix breakfast and pour my coffee and sit down in front of the computer to check my e-mail, Google reader and facebook. I normally do a little financial juggling or checkbook balancing. Then I get up, finish getting ready and head out to work, or on the weekends out to get whatever it is I'm doing that day started.

The thing it, I think I want to change my routine. I would like to blog in the mornings, like I'm doing today, but I struggle to find the time. I'd also like to get more cleaning done in the mornings. I used to be able to do that all time and it was so nice to go into work knowing that the floor had been swept and the dishes put away.

It's especially important as the summer rolls in that I get more done in the mornings so that I can spend my evenings in the garden or in the kitchen.

I'll keep you posted.

Surviving the Hail Storm

My garden survived the weekend's hail storm. I'm grateful that there were no tornadoes, and greatful that we didn't lose any giant limbs. Sunday, we had hail. It was large. It was probably only pea-sized, but we had so much of it. I sat out on the front porch for a few minutes and watched it fall.

Down day. Probably the weather.

I'm feeling kind of down today. A little blue. It's probably the weather. It was so nice last week and now it's chilly again and rainy.

I'm reading the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I'm only about 50 pages in. The author is talking about the loss of plant species due to the agribusiness modification and single plant farms. I was almost in tears. Maybe I'm an emotional person sometimes, but that isn't something that would make me, in a normal state of mind, cry. Maybe we'll see the sun shine again soon. My garden will thrive and I'll help keep some great plants alive.

From HOT to cold

Last week it was hot. I think I mentioned that before. It was so hot that I almost turned on the A/C. This week it's cold. A cold front blew in Saturday night, along with some rain, which I decided to walk through, twice. I got go chilled that I slept in sock on Saturday night. Yesterday, when I was at home, I wore sweatpants and covered up with a blanket on the couch. It shouldn't frost this late in the year, but I'm praying that it won't. Praying and checking the weather channel. My mom recommended covering my beautiful baby plants with a sheet if a frost warning is in effect.

My lettuce has sprung up! I have two beautiful rows of lettuce. I can't wait to make a giant salad. I also have some tiny cucumber sprouts shooting up from the ground. It won't be long until the ground is covered in green again.

Scary Browning Tomoto Plants

Okay. So they aren't brown. They are more a greenish yellow. It's making me nervous.

Hopefully they'll snap out of it, turn back to bright green and grow some giant red tomatoes. Hopefully.

Morning Watering

This morning, I took some time to water my freshly planted garden.It's hard for me to find time in my mornings sometimes, but I'm especially determined to make this garden grow and flourish.

It's hot in Indiana for May. Near record high temperatures. It's 83 degrees outside right now, and will probably get hotter before the days end. Like most of the midwest and south, we've had an unusually wet spring. Around here, though, we experience flash flooding, not steady rainfall. The ground is drying quickly.

In our household, we make the effort to only use the air-conditioner in the months of June, July, August, and September (and only on truly hot days during those months). It's rough sleeping at night right now. We have to keep out windows closed at night. It's a loud side of town, and while I feel pretty safe, I would prefer to limit access by potential home invaders.

Garden Basics

I started my garden yesterday. It's an urban garden. Well I live in the city. Not downtown, but inside the bypass.

My garden is in my side yard. It's technically my front yard based on our address. The garden is three rows. They are 10 feet by 3.5 feet. I started tomatoes, sweet peppers, and hot peppers inside about a month ago. I planted onions, lettuce, spinach, and carrots from seeds. I planted whole potatoes. I picked up big tomato plants, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and zucchini from the nursery. I also planted some strawberries in a hanging pot.

It should be just enough to keep me busy, but not too much to handle.

Wish me luck with my garden!

Challenge #3 announced: Bunting

Challenge #3 was posted on Iron Craft yesterday. I got off to a great start today. I picked my fabrics from the scrap pile, made my pattern, sewed and turned my triangles. Tomorrow I will figure out the best way to string them all together.

This craft a week is going to be a challenge, but I need something to keep my creative juices flowing. I’m feeling very stifled already this new year. It’s only a matter of time before I am able to do something that makes me feel accomplished. I’m not sure that these crafts are it, but I do have a bigger goal in mind. It’s a secret goal that I’ve dreamed about since I was a little girl, and the deadline was three and a half years ago. Now I say there is no time like the present to live dreams and smile.

Sorry for the cryptic post, but someday it will all make sense. Pictures of the bunting to come soon!

Hello USPS. Thanks for sending the package

I've been meaning to ship out some packages for a while now, but getting to the post office often poses a challenge. I finished a swap about a week ago. The deadline is Saturday. I typically try to be an early sender. This time I've waited until the last minute.

I also bought some materials for a friend in September and have just now packaged them up for settlement.

So what I'm saying is that's USPS will have my business this weekend.

In addition this weekend, I need to finish another swap, start iron craft challenge #3, go back to challenges #1 and #2, and pick up a new blouse for work next week. Ready, set, go!!

Goal #1: 1. Be a neater cleaner person in my personal spaces (home, work, car, etc).

My first New Year’s Resolution is to Be a neater cleaner person in my personal spaces (home, work, car, etc).

Home:

• Vacuum the house at least once a week.
• Empty the sink and put away clean dishes each night before heading to bed.
• Move shoes to closet and hang work clothes in the closet every Friday afternoon.
• Clear the kitchen table before starting dinner on week nights.
  

Work:

• In the last 15 minutes of each work day, declutter desk, recycle trash, write out the following days to-do list.
• Tuesday morning, purge Inbox and to-do stack of papers.

Car:

• Put a trash bag in the car and remove once a week.
• Vacuum car once a month
  

Periodically, I will refer back to these tactics to see how I’ve improved and where I can improve more.

… Happy New Year! Yes, I know I’m a week late.

I’m a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions. I strive on goal and objectives. In college my favorite classes focused on strategic planning complete with clear goals, measurable objectives and specific tactics to meet those goals. In my professional life, my dream job would allow me to work the same way.

This year, instead of popping out a few sentences on January 1 and forgetting them by now, I’ve taken some extra time to consider my new year’s resolutions. I’ve decided my first goal will be to make smaller goals through out the year. And when I set those goals, I will also have to plan how to achieve them.

The few goals I have now are as follows:

1. Be a neater cleaner person in my personal spaces (home, work, car, etc).

2. Read one nonfiction book a month

3. Participate in the Iron Craft year of crafty challenges.

As more goals creep up, I will include them. I will mark-up a way to make them happen. My goals will no longer be fluffy pretty sentences, but instead actions.

Please stay tuned for future information.